Review: The Appeal of Evil by Pembroke Sinclair

Source: We received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

From Goodreads:

Katie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.

Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the "good" guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the "bad" guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell. Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him?

Our Review:

This book took us both for surprise. We went into it without any expectations and it turned out to be nothing like we imagined. We had never read anything like The Appeal of Evil before.

Katie has been in love with Wes for a long time but Wes is constantly breaking her heart, making promises he can't keep. The, one day, Josh appears and gives Katie exactly what she so desperately wants: attention. However, nothing is ever as simple as it seems and soon she finds herself in a war between good and evil.

Although the plot itself was pretty simple and coherent it was lacking world building. There was a lot of potential that was left undeveloped. Maybe there will be a next book and we'll learn more about the world, about Wes, Josh and what they represent. In addiction it seemed like everything happened in the same place: her room, the hospital and the warehouse.

Therefore what surprised us about the book was the characters. Katie is not our usual heroin. She is mean, influenceable and selfish, Wes was annoyingly good - always trying to do the right thing but never quite accomplishing it. On the other hand, Josh was the exactly opposite. He was evil. Wes and Josh are the perfect impersonation of Good VS Evil while Katie is the one in the middle. She is not good like Wes but she is not evil like Josh, yet. They are not the characters you will fall in love with but they serve their purpose perfectly. Neither these characters are likeable but that doesn't mean they aren't good characters. We believe this was Pembroke's Sinclair intention and that it was what made this book good.

One of the main problems we had was with the writing style. Kate kept asking asking herself a lot of questions, but because the book was written in 3rd person there was the impression she was talking with herself in her head in 3rd person. All of this reflections and questions slowed the pace of the book quite a bit, but not enough to out it down.

All in all, a book we recommend to everyone who is tired of the perfect, goodhearted characters and is looking for a different and refreshing read.